The Swimming Hole
by hotelchelsea
Summary: "Ritchie Chambers, I'll love you 'til the day I die. That's a promise."
1. Chapter 1

**NOTE: ****Why hello there, long time no speak! I can't begin to thank you guys for taking interest in my writing and supporting me no matter what! This is a new story that I'm quite excited about, I really hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it c:**

*****COMPLICATIONS READERS!**** I'm contemplating on rewriting the current story or continuing from where I've left off. I'm indeed working on rewriting chapter one, but I'm not sure if I will post it yet! I'll let you know what's going on with that.**

**Please excuse some of the punctual/grammatical errors in this story, I'm a bit rusty with my writing lately! ****Anywhoo, I hope you enjoy! ****I love you all dearly, and I hope you're having a beautiful day wherever it may be.**

**Don't be afraid to leave a review! It would mean the world :')**

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**1951**

Mrs. Chambers walked quietly into the Church right on schedule, as always everyone turned to stare at her. She dare not look at anyone, and her children knew better not to either. The frail, middle-aged woman was in her usual blue dress and matching hat, her two little girls Evie and Ruth in each hand. Her three young boys Frank, Christopher, and Richard walked at a slow pace behind her. Mr. Chambers was never there. He might've shown up once or twice before but when he did, he was always slurring curses and stumbling about, and then asked to leave.

Mrs. Chambers always sat across from our family. My mother would always have pity on her and give a sympathetic smile or wave to the woman whom she grew up with, but Mrs. Chambers never greeted her back. Maybe Mrs. Chambers didn't return the favour because her former childhood friend got a better life than she did, _and she hated that._ Or maybe she was just so closed off from the world that she didn't know how to interact anymore, the only thing she knew was the feeling of her husband's firm hand against her face. Maybe both.

After Mrs. Chambers and her children had taken a seat, she pulled out her golden compact to check her makeup. No matter how much Mrs. Chambers tried to hide it, everyone knew what lay beneath her layers of ghostly powder, everyone could still see the bruises and the vacancy in her eyes.

Richard, the second oldest Chambers boy, sat at the end of the pew and flashed me a quick smile. I had known him since the day I was born, and we didn't just sit across from one another in church. Ritchie Chambers lived across the street from me in a house that looked just like ours, except it was painted grey instead of white. Even though he always spat spitballs at the back of my neck or pulled on one of my pigtails, he was my best friend. He could be such a pest at times, there was moments that I absolutely hated him, but in the end we were inseparable.

The service began, and soon enough I had sat still for a good half hour. I was starting to get antsy, a half hour was a long time to wait for a kid. It was a cheerful Summer afternoon and all I could think about was my blue cruiser bike and the old swimming hole in the woods.

After what seemed like ages, the service was finally over. Like always Momma would be talking to Mrs. Porter, an outspoken and unfashionable woman who happened to be Momma's best friend and the most annoying person in the world besides Ritchie Chambers. I always had to stand there and hear about how amazing Mrs. Porter's son Andrew was, she would always blab on about how he won yet another award or baseball game. I could care less, all I wanted was the "okay" to go off and play.

"Oh my stars Kathleen, this lil' one is shooting up just like a weed!" Mrs. Porter cried, ruffling up my hair. "Judy looks just like a princess in this dress!"

I scowled, smoothing my hair back down and crossing my arms. I hated the pink dress that I was wearing, the puffed sleeves alone seemed to swallow me whole.

"I know, isn't she darling? I sewed the dress myself." My mother said with great pride, hoisting my protesting baby brother Davie up higher on her hip.

"You best be careful Kathleen, when she becomes a young woman the boys will be lining up outside her door just begging for her hand! Isn't that right Andrew honey?" Mrs. Porter patted her son on the shoulder, and Andrew nodded with a grin.

After another ten minutes of Mrs. Porter's high-pitched blabbering, Daddy had finished talking with his friends and could tell that Momma had her fill with Mrs. Porter's excessive yapping. Knowing my Mother, she hadn't a bad bone in her body and didn't know how to stop Mrs. Porter from talking any more. She was always worried about other people's feelings.

"Well, we better get back home. Time for Davie's nap." Daddy said, rubbing Davie's fuzzy blonde head. Momma nodded her head in agreement.

"Oh of course! I'll see you on Tuesday for Bridge night?" Mrs. Porter asked Momma,

"Absolutely." Momma grinned, and Mrs. Porter hugged her goodbye. Great, I hated when Mrs. Porter would come over to play Bridge. I'd have to play with Andrew and have Mrs. Porter give me her unwanted advice on how to look and act more like a lady.

"Judith go get your sister." My father asked me sternly, I nodded and mumbled a simple "Yes sir." before running off to fetch my older sister. I never disobeyed my father, he was frankly quite intimidating and scary, and often treated me like a little soldier. I'd never want him to be cross with me, I avoided it at all costs.

I spotted my sister Jane giggling and talking with a boy named Denny Lachance. The Lachance family were good friends with my family, Denny's father was a childhood friend of my Father's, so the Lachances would often come over for dinner. I stood behind Jane and Denny with my arms crossed impatiently, I cleared my throat and they both turned to look at me.

"What is it Judy?" Jane let out an annoyed sigh, "I'm a little busy."

"My name is Judith, and it's time to go." I scowled, "Daddy told me to come and get you."

Jane groaned and said goodbye to Denny, joining me in walking back to the rest of our family. She looked back at the older Lachance boy, shooting him a flirty smile and a quick wave. I rolled my eyes, sticking my fingers in my mouth and pretending to gag.

"You act like such a baby Judith." Jane scoffed, neatly smoothing out the skirt of her dress.

"I do not!" I cried, "I just had my eighth birthday!"

"Exactly." Jane said, "You're a barfy little baby. Just like Davie."

"MOMMA!" I wailed, darting over to my Mother's side. "MOMMA!"

"My goodness Judith, would you quit your yelling? Everyone is staring!" Momma scolded, putting down Davie who was writhing about in her arms. "Whatever is the matter?!"

"Jane called me a barfy little baby." I spat, glaring at my sister.

"Did not!" Jane cried defensively,

"Did too!" I retorted,

"Did not!" Jane said, "It's not true!"

"LIAR LIAR PANTS ON-" I begin to chant loudly before my mother swatted me upside the head, I shut up immediately.

"That's quite enough." Momma growled, "You're lucky your father is waiting in the car, because if he saw your behaviour right now he'd have a fit!"

"Sorry Momma." Jane mumbled, picking up little Davie who was trying to crawl away. Davie started to make a fuss before he discovered Jane's silver locket hanging loosely on her neck, he fiddled with it for a second before putting it in his mouth.

"Come on now, let's go." Momma said sternly, and started towards our car. I wonder now how she managed to raise us kids back then, all the scrapping and disobeying almost drove her mad at times. I was the second youngest in the family, I had three other siblings. Jane who was eleven at the time, James who was fourteen, and Davie who was only a year.

I got in the car next to Jane, she turned to glare at me and whispered the word "tattletale" just loud enough for me to hear. I responded with sticking my tongue out.

The drive home from church was always nice, especially during the Summer. The healthy green trees of Castle Rock stood in perfectly aligned rows, alongside the perfect small houses and well-kept front lawns. I just couldn't wait to get on home and change out of this ridiculous dress, all I could think about my bike that was awaiting my return in the garage.

"Momma, where's Jimmy?" Jane asked, gesturing to the empty seat where our older brother was supposed to be sitting.

"Why, he's taking Mary out for a burger sweetheart." Momma replied, James was always doing something with his girlfriend Mary. He was never home anymore, between being on the football team at school and his infatuation with Mary, he was always tied up.

"When is he not out with Mary?" I scowled, "He promised to play catch with me last week but he was too busy with her."

"I'm sure he'll play with you when he gets home if you ask him nicely." Momma said,

"He's the coolest boy in school Judy, he doesn't have time to play around with you." Jane snorted, her nose high in the air.

"Jane." Momma warned her, "Leave your sister alone."

We finally pulled up in front of our house and I was the first to scramble out. I peered across the street to see if the Chambers had arrived home, and sure enough the old Ford was parked in the unkept driveway. I bolted into the house and straight up to my room.

I wiggled the dress off my body and chucked it into the corner of my room, I wouldn't have to look at it again until Sunday. I threw on my bathing suit and then my old striped t-shirt on top of that, I finished it off with my pair of shorts, not even bothering to take off the frilly socks I still had on from Church. I pulled my blonde hair into a ponytail and grabbed my pre-packed leather book bag.

I rushed back downstairs and headed straight out the front door, not even bothering to say goodbye to my family. I stood on my front lawn, as always Ritchie Chambers sat across the street on his front porch steps, waiting for me and playing with his red yo-yo.

"YOU WANNA GO TO THE SWIMMIN' HOLE?" I shouted from across the street, and Ritchie's head shot up to glance at me.

"WHY YOU YELLING? JUST COM'ERE!" Ritchie shouted back, and I hesitantly ran towards him.

I ran across his front lawn and took a seat beside him on his front porch. I noticed he had changed out of his church clothes as well, replacing his spiffy dress shirt and slacks for a pair of dungarees without a shirt.

"You wanna go to the swimming hole? It's awful nice out today." I spoke softly, noticing a slight bruise under his eye. "What happened to your eye?"

"Nothin'." Ritchie shrugged, I knew I shouldn't have asked him that. It was obvious that bruise had come from the fist of his old man.

"Come on then! Get your bike and let's go!" I changed the subject, jumping to my feet.

"Well, alright." Ritchie groaned, getting off the porch steps and grabbing his bike off the front lawn. Ritchie had a bike exactly like mine, except it was red and didn't have tacky streamers on it.

"You got the portable radio?" Ritchie asked as we walked our bikes off his front lawn.

"Of course I do!" I beamed, reaching into my backpack and pulling it out. The baby blue transistor radio was a birthday present from my grandmother, and it was the best thing I had ever received. I turned the radio on and put it in my bike basket.

Ritchie and I were both pretty independent for our age, we did a lot of things on our own. In a small town like Castle Rock there wasn't really any risk of us kids getting hurt or in trouble, we left our houses as we pleased, sometimes even leaving our front doors unlocked at night. Castle Rock was overall a pretty safe place to live in, there was no real threat. We biked for a good forty minutes. Ritchie and I were both used to the route by now since it's where we went every day. The swimming hole was just on the outskirts of town, and hidden quite nicely in the brush of the woods. Even though Ritchie and I had gone there constantly, we sometimes couldn't find it.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" I hollered as we finally reached the swimming hole, I threw my bike down and sprinted to the edge of the manmade hole. I tore my shirt off and tugged down my shorts, adjusting my swimsuit.

"HEY!" Ritchie cried, "THAT'S NO FAIR YOU GOTTA' HEAD START!"

"Looks like the you're the rotten egg this time!" I laughed, running onto the wooden dock and jumping into the cool, crisp, water.

The water was murky as usual, if you sank deep enough into the depths of the water you could touch the growing weeds with your feet. Ever since James told me that the weeds were actually alive and would bite your toes off, I tried to avoid them.

I felt a splash next to me and I knew that Ritchie had jumped in next to me. I arose from the water and gasped for air, rubbing the water out of my eyes and swimming towards the dock.

"Hey where do you think you're goin'?" I heard Ritchie say, grabbing my head and dunking me underwater. I came back up from the water and squealed splashing Ritchie square in the face. We horsed around for a while before we took turns swinging on the old rope that hung from the tree above us.

There was a good reason that the swimming hole was abandoned. Rumour had it long ago, that the swimming hole was a real popular destination for youngsters, but when one boy our age swung on the rope the wrong way and hit his head, drowning; no one would swim there anymore. Partially because of the tragedy, and also because of the rumoured haunting of the dead boy. It happened so long ago, that most people had forgotten about it, but it was sometimes brought up on summer nights when there was camp outs in the backyard, or when parents would use it as a scare tactic for their children to not go out there. My parents had no clue about my frequent trips to the swimming hole, I'd often tell a fib that I'd gone to the pool when I'd walk in with wet hair. Ritchie and I were pretty fearless as kids, we just saw the so-called haunted swimming hole as a place all to ourselves, a place we ruled.

After swimming for a bit, we sat on the dock to dry up. Ritchie had towel dried his hair so it was all fuzzy and stuck up in all the wrong places. I always had bit of a crush on Ritchie Chambers, when I looked at him I often found myself getting this strange feeling in my stomach. That feeling grew a lot worse once I got older. Even though his hair was never in the right place and he made crude jokes, I thought he was the cutest boy in the entire world, but even at that age I had enough sense not to tell him that.

"What are you starin' at huh? Ritchie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nuthin." I shrugged, grabbing my book bag and pulling out a small tin.

"What you got in there?" Ritchie craned his head over to my side curiously.

"Just some old junk." I mumbled, rustling through my small keepsake box that I brought everywhere with me. I found the small vial that I was looking for and shut the box.

"What is that?" Ritchie frowned,

"Would ya' quit asking me so many questions?" I said, crawling over to the end of the dock and dipping the vial into the swimming hole, collecting some of its murky water. I sat up and screwed the vial shut.

"You're so weird Judy" Ritchie sneered,

"It's Judith, not Judy." I spat, "How many times have I told you that?"

"Sorry, Jeez. Why does it have to be just Judith?" He asked, "And why are you fetchin' water from that hole?"

"Judith sounds more mature, I'm no baby anymore." I explained, "I just wanted to collect some of the swimmin' water for my keepsake box, what's so weird about that huh?"

Ritchie shrugged as I put the vial in the tin and packed it away. I figured I was dry enough so I slipped on my shorts but left my t-shirt off, it was far too hot to wear it.

"What now?" I asked, my back turned to him.

"I dunno, I heard that the drive-in is playing some new science-fiction movie." Ritchie got to his feet and jammed his overalls into the basket of his bike, leaving his damp swimming trunks on.

"But we're flat broke." I scoffed,

"You didn't expect that we'd actually pay money did you?" Ritchie laughed, picking up his bike.

"Well how else would we see it?" I asked dumbly, picking up my bike as well and hopping on.

"Let's stop at the drug store, I've got a plan."

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The sun was about to set and I had told my parents I was going to see a movie, they gave me the "okay" without even questioning how I was going to see it without a dime in my pocket. Ritchie was a smart kid, I'd give him that. After grabbing some liquorice from Vince's Drug Store, he had led me to the top of a hill, where we had a (literally) priceless view of the drive-in theatre. Ritchie enjoyed the movie a lot more than I did, I constantly asked too many questions and nearly drove him mad throughout the whole thing. After the movie had ended, it was quite late. I was thankful that I had Ritchie to walk home with, it was awful dark out.

I got in at about 8:00, and as usual it was quiet. My father was sitting in his recliner with the latest newspaper, and my mother was knitting a sweater for little Davie.

"You're home awful late." My father said flatly, not even bothering to look up from his paper.

"Sorry, sir." I mumbled, looking down at the rug.

"My goodness Judith, you're filthy! What have you been getting into this time?" Momma scolded. My poor mother just about had a fit every time I walked through that door, the dirt on my face and the scrapes on my knees were enough to make her faint.

"Nothin' really." I shrugged,

"I'm running you a bath," Momma insisted, putting her knitting down and guiding me up the stairs. I knew I wouldn't be able to talk her out of a bath tonight.

After my bath, Momma helped me into my pyjamas and put my hair in braids. Momma let me have a marshmallow square and some milk before bed, I was even allowed to watch a couple of cartoons. It felt strange just having my parents to myself and none of my siblings around, the idea of being an only child felt so forbidden to me. With Jane playing her records in her room, James probably on his way home, and little Davie fast asleep; It was perfectly silent. I couldn't have been more grateful for a small moment like this. After my cartoon and snack, Momma took me to my room and tucked me in. I had no trouble falling asleep that night, with the gentle rustle of the wind through my curtains and the chirping of the crickets, I instantly fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! I'm so excited for you guys to read this chapter, I'm quite pleased with it! :) I have to give a HUGE thank you to BoatsAgainstTheCurrent, and standbymelovely for leaving reviews. You guys are the reason I decided to upload another chapter! I'd also like to thank LonelyPotato, and MaryEmily for favouriting and following! BoatsAgainstTheCurrent and ****standbymelovely for following as well :') You guys gave me a huge sense of motivation and confidence to continue with this. This chapter is for you!**  


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A couple of days later, I woke up just before dawn to the sun slowly coming up behind the hills. The sky was a mix of beautiful pinks and oranges, and the sight of it made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Castle Rock was known for its wicked sunrises, and I always couldn't help but take a peak. I slowly got out of bed and tiptoed around my room, searching my bedroom floor for a decent pair of clothes to put on. I then grabbed my book bag and creeped down the stairs, hoping that I wouldn't wake up my family. If Daddy knew I was sneaking out, even just to see the sun rise, I'd get hided for sure.

I managed to slip out the front door with ease, running across the front lawn and down the lonely and empty streets of Castle Rock's suburbs. I found what I was looking for, the massive and ancient oak tree that sat alone on an empty lot about two blocks from my home. I usually climbed the old tree and sat for a while just before the sun set, instead of when it came up in the morning. In fact I rarely snuck out of my room, I only went if the sunrise was just too beautiful to pass up, or I was absolutely restless. I was nervous about being too far away from home, the farthest I'd ever go was a couple streets down. I didn't stay long either, I was scared that my folks would find out I wasn't in bed. I had only started sneaking out this year, I never thought that sneaking out would become a nasty habit of mine, or that it would become a regular thing once I got older, and that I'd keep getting more and more comfortable with doing it.

After watching the beginning of the sunrise, I was getting sleepy and decided it was best to head on home. I crawled back down the tree and made my way home, hoisting my bag over my shoulder. As I neared my house, I saw Ritchie Chambers sitting on the front porch steps across the street, looking right at me. He hadn't been there long, because I hadn't seen him on my way to the tree, which was only about twenty minutes ago. I hadn't really seen him up this early before either, he probably couldn't sleep right. I made my way over to him and sat at the end of his front stoop, Ritchie gave me a deflated smile. From the looks of him, he had been up all night.

"Why aren't you in bed?" I asked him, taking a twig from the ground and running it along the wooden steps of the front porch.

"I should ask you the same thing." Ritchie smirked, I noticed that his left eye was decently swollen. I had learned not to ask questions about Ritchie's cuts and bruises anymore, I didn't need to ask, we both knew where they had come from. I hated seeing him emotionally and physically abused by the adult he was supposed to trust, I absolutely hated that there wasn't much I could really do, _and I felt terrible._ I had told my parents about Ritchie's situation a couple of times before, but they never really made much of it. They told me it was best not to get involved.

"I went to watch the sunrise. Now why are you up?" I raised an eyebrow,

"Couldn't sleep I guess. My old man woke everyone up with his goddamn yelling." Ritchie tried to laugh, but it wasn't funny at all. He sighed, stretching out his weary body. Ritchie was wise beyond his years, he was a lot more mature than I was for our age. He had to grow up a lot sooner than he was supposed to, the way things were in his family he didn't really have a choice.

"RICHARD?! GOD DAMN WHERE ARE YOU? YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The drunken shouting of his father made me jump right out of my skin.

"Speak of the devil." Ritchie rolled his eyes, trying to act like he wasn't afraid. It just made it worse seeing him pretend that everything was going to be okay, I wished I could throw my arms around Ritchie and take every blow from his old man, so he wouldn't have to. "You should go." Ritchie mumbled, and I nodded without a word, standing up and running off his front lawn.

I hated leaving him, I wanted to stay. I felt unbelievably shitty for abandoning him on that front porch, I should have asked him to come stay with me at my house. I had to remember that Ritchie insisted that I didn't get involved though, but it was hard not to. Everyone had told me to not get involved, but it just didn't feel right not doing anything.

I sighed, slowly slipping into the front door and heading back to my bedroom. I didn't even bother with taking my clothes off, I was sure grateful it was Summer break and I didn't have to wake up for school the next morning. As I rested my head on the pillow, I couldn't help but think about Ritchie trapped in the lonely depths of that paint peeling house, all the screaming and the fighting, the beer cans scattered about like dead leaves. It was a place of nightmares, and I dreamed that one day Ritchie Chambers would be free.

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The mornings started off as they always did. Our family of six all sat at the table, we were either arguing and all trying to speak at once, or had to listen to Daddy rant on about politics or how stupid today's youth was. Jane and I would almost always be fighting over who got the last piece of toast, Jimmy kept to himself most of the time except when he'd answer Daddy's questions about his football team, and Davie was always crying. Momma never sat down, she was always rushing about in the kitchen, giving out second helpings of eggs and bacon, or pouring more orange juice into the jug we all shared.

"What are your plans today Judith?" My father asked me awful formally, adjusting the collar of his shirt. Whenever he spoke to me, I got fidgety and nervous.

"I dunno, I guess go to the pool." I mumbled, sifting through my eggs with my fork and avoiding eye contact.

"With that Chambers boy?" Daddy asked, his tone was so neutral that I wasn't sure if we was upset by this or okay with it.

"Yes sir." I almost whispered. I shoved a decent amount of eggs into my mouth, so I would have an excuse not to talk. There were no more questions after that, I was grateful he had stopped. Whenever I talked to Daddy it was always nerve-wracking, it almost felt like an interrogation. Which I guess was fair because he was a police officer in town. I had never enjoyed a real conversation with him, he was a difficult man, and had quite the temper too.

After breakfast I decided to call on Ritchie. I was concerned about him after the near encounter with Ritchie's old man earlier this morning. I was too scared to knock on his door, I didn't want his dad to answer. The fact was, in all of my life knowing him; I hadn't once set foot in his house. He never wanted me to, and avoided the idea of it constantly. After a while, I got it and understood. I didn't ask him if I could play there anymore. I saw that Mr. Chambers' car was not parked in the driveway, which meant I might have a good chance of him not being there.

I walked across the street to the Chambers property, and hesitantly stood there. The house suddenly looked quite menacing, towering over me like it was a cat and I was the mouse. One of the windows was boarded up, and there was a couple of gouges in the faded red front door. It looked as if it might've been quite a beautiful place to live a long time ago, it was a shame it was so beat up.

"Ritchie!" I cupped my hands over my mouth and yelled, hoping that he'd come out. No answer. "RITCHIE!"

I tried this a couple more times before front the door swung open, and I instantly regretted my decision. Mrs. Chambers stood with her arms crossed, her dark brown hair was in rollers and she had on her pink lounge coat. She shot me a nasty look. I wondered if I had come too early, and that everyone was asleep, but it was around 11:30, Ritchie was always up before then.

"You could just knock you know." Mrs. Chambers snapped, "I was doing my nails." Mrs. Chambers gestured to her one hand that was painted a crimson red, I noticed she was holding onto a hairbrush in the other.

"S-Sorry Ma'am." I mumbled, rocking back and forth on my heels uncomfortably. I should have known better than to holler at the house like an idiot, how embarrassing.

Mrs. Chambers expression softened when she realized I was a little too young to understand that she was in the midst of her beauty routine, and relaxed a bit. "I take it you're looking for Richard?" She asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Yes Ma'am." I nodded briskly, "I was wondering if he was able to come out and play."

"You can call me Doris." Mrs. Chambers said, "Ritchie's out picking up some milk for me at Tessio's, goddamn milk man forgot us again. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you met him there."

"Thanks Doris." I nodded and awkwardly waved goodbye, running across the street and grabbing my bike. When I turned to look back, Doris Chambers still stood there staring at me with those empty blue eyes. After a few seconds, she turned around and went inside, shutting the door behind her.

I took a deep breath. That was a bit nerve-wracking, I knew for next time not to shout for him, it was a foolish thing to do. I hopped on my bike and got downtown in about five minutes, that was the benefit of living in a small town, you got places real quick. I parked my bike in front of Tessio's Grocery, hoping that I hadn't missed Ritchie. I opened the door of the grocery store, the bells above the door tinkled cheerily as I entered. I waved to Mr. Tessio, the owner of the store and he smiled, waving back. The Tessio family were good friends with my family, Mrs. Tessio always came over to our house to play cards on bridge night alongside my mother and the other moms in the neighbourhood.

I made my way down each aisle, looking for my best friend. I finally located him in the candy aisle, where he was browsing the selection in deep concentration. I grinned, sneaking up behind him and poking him on the shoulder. He jumped slightly and turned to look at me with a surprised expression on his face.

"Gee whiz, I wasn't expecting you here!" Ritchie beamed, a bottle of milk in each hand. I noticed now that he a had a busted lip to match his already swollen eye, I was glad he wasn't seriously hurt last night. I blushed as I realized we were pretty much wearing the exact same striped t-shirt and shorts, the only difference was that I had a couple pale yellow hair clips in my hair. I bet Mrs. Porter wouldn't be too pleased to see I was dressing just like a little boy.

"Your mother told me you'd be here." I shrugged and Ritchie's smile slipped off his face, he frowned.

"You talked to my Mom?" Ritchie asked,

"Yeah." I said, "I was hollering for you to come out, and she told me you were here. That's all."

"Well I'm sorry if she was rude or anything like that, she doesn't mean it. She's just stressed about taking care of us kids." Ritchie mumbled uncomfortably, I could tell he wasn't happy about me interacting with his Mother. I think Ritchie was worried about his parents making me uncomfortable, and that I'd not want to be his friend anymore because of that. Which wasn't at all reality, I'd never stop being friends with him for something like that, ever. I don't think there would be any reason I'd not want to be Ritchie Chambers friend, he was everything I looked for in a companion.

"She was fine. Doris is quite the character." I winked, and Ritchie couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"What do you want to do today?" Ritchie asked, changing the subject. He pulled a pack of gummy bears off the rack, and handed them to me.

"I dunno, we could go to the pool?" I suggested, examining the pack of gummy bears. The cartoon bear on the front of the package had abnormally sized eyes, it kind of creeped me out a bit.

"Nah, we've already done that." Ritchie said, walking down the black and white tiled floors of the grocery store, heading towards the till.

The truth was that we had done almost everything there was to do. It had only been half a month since school let out, and we had done pretty much everything there was to do in Castle Rock. It was all getting boring, and annoying that we couldn't find much else to do. We had seen all the movies that had come out in the theatre, we had basically sampled everything off Blue Point Diner's menu, and we even browsed all the boring adult shops that had no toys in them.

"Why don't we call on the Despain brothers? Maybe Charlie Hogan? We could make a half-decent baseball game." I suggested again as Ritchie put all the items on the counter, he grabbed a couple of cokes out of the cooler, putting them on the counter as well. Mr. Tessio began adding up all the items, I wasn't sure if Ritchie's mother had given him permission to buy candy and coke with her money she'd given him. I sure as hell hoped he didn't get in trouble.

"Hey that's a swell idea!" Ritchie cried, turning to me with a huge grin on his face. I couldn't help but smile too, I handed him the gummy bears he gave me to hold on to, and he nodded thanks, putting them on the counter.

"My son Billy is a big fan of baseball, I'm sure he'd love to join you guys." Mr. Tessio piped in, "He sure is a decent pitcher, the boy is just so shy that he barely gets out."

"Is he free to play?" Ritchie asked eagerly as Mr. Tessio added up the final total for the milk and treats. Billy was a good pitcher indeed, I've seen him play a couple games before, he was impressive for the age of nine. He was for sure a good throw, that kid could throw a bowling ball with his pinkie if he wanted to.

"Absolutely." Mr. Tessio beamed, "In fact, he's in the back room working for me today. I'm sure he'd love to get off work early." Mr. Tessio winked, leaving the till and heading to the back room to fetch his son.

I didn't really know Billy Tessio all that well. The Tessio family were well-known in town, and had a reputation of being kind-hearted and hardworking. I knew that Billy was a year older than Ritchie and I, and had a younger brother named Vern who was about four, the same age as Ritchie's little brother Christopher so they often played together. I also knew that Billy sometimes came over to my house to play with the other neighbourhood kids when it was Bridge Night. He didn't speak much and often kept to himself, so we never really talked. He was the type of person that liked to be alone.

"He's all yours kids," Mr. Tessio called out, walking out of back room with his son. Billy was tall for his age and had floppy brown hair that always got in his face, he often had to push it out of the way. His father brought him to us, and Billy stood there ready to go with a baseball mitt and ball, even a baseball cap to match. It was as if he carried these things with him everywhere. Billy's eyes were glued to the floor, he just fiddled with the baseball in his hands ."Billy, you know Judith and Richard right?" Mr. Tessio asked,

Billy nodded without a word and Mr. Tessio gave him a good pat on the shoulder, encouragingly pushing him towards us. It was painful to see how hard Mr. Tessio was trying to get Billy to interact. Ritchie and Billy knew each other somewhat better than I did since their brothers were playmates, so they both exchanged hellos. I greeted Billy as well and he held his hand up, waving awkwardly. Ritchie paid for his groceries and thanked Mr. Tessio for bagging them for him, he hoisted the brown paper bag off the counter and into his arms

"I'll see you kids later. Billy be home around 7:00 okay?" Mr. Tessio said to his older son, and Billy nodded.

We left the store and Ritchie put the groceries into his basket. He mentioned to Billy and I that he had to drop off the milk to his mother so it wouldn't spoil in the sun, so we all hopped on our bikes and made our way to his house. I needed to make at stop home as well so I could grab my glove and bat. My mother heavily disapproved of my baseball stuff, and thought that I shouldn't be playing ball and rolling around in the dirt because I'm a "young lady". I never bothered to listen to that crap, I blamed Mrs. Porter for putting that "girls shouldn't do any boy stuff" garbage into her head. When it came to these sort of things, I was old enough to make my own decision on what made me happy.

We pulled up to Ritchie's house. Billy still hadn't said a word yet, but we knew he was real shy and needed some time to warm up. I went to my house and Ritchie went to his, Billy sat patiently on the curb between our two houses. I opened the front door to my house and noticed Mrs. Porter's nasty looking snake-skin kitten heels placed along with the other shoes in the house, god damn. I slowly snuck down the hallway, hoping that my mother wouldn't notice me and that I wouldn't have to talk with Mrs. Porter. They were chatting loud enough that I may have a fighting chance of sneaking in and out.

"Who's there?" Momma called out, double god damn.

"It's Judith, Momma." I mumbled, "I'm just gonna get some things from my room."

"Alright honey. Make sure you come down and say hi to Mrs. Porter before you go!" Momma said, I groaned making my way up the stairs.

I went into my room and opened my closet, grabbing my bat, glove, and navy blue baseball cap. I tied my hair into a ponytail so it was off my neck, my hair acted like a blanket over my neck at the best of times, and I sure as hell didn't need that on a hot day like this. I put my baseball cap on backwards, and pulled my ponytail out the back. I looked into the mirror with pride, I felt like some sort of tough and cool superhero. I couldn't wait to play ball, it's been a while since I played a good game. I nodded at my reflection in approval and headed back down the stairs. Hauling the baseball bat over my shoulder and stuffing my free hand into the glove. I couldn't wait to see Mrs. Porter's reaction over my baseball uniform, I loved to piss her off. I walked into the kitchen and my mother widened her eyes, looking me up and down.

"I haven't seen you wear this in a while…I thought I threw that hat out." Momma frowned,

"I got it back out of the trash." I said proudly, Mrs. Porter shook her head and took a sip from her tea-cup.

"Don't you think you should be making some friends that are girls?" Mrs. Porter said, "There are plenty of nice girls in the neighbourhood."

"Nah. Girls have cooties." I grinned and Mrs. Porter raised her eyebrows at me, "I better go, the boys are waiting. Bye Momma."

"Bye honey…." Momma said, and I made my grand exit, with my head held high. It felt great not putting up Mrs. Porter's foolishness, it felt absolutely amazing. I ran across the street to where Billy and Ritchie were waiting for me. Ritchie made it known that he had waited for too long and I just rolled my eyes, we all got back on our bikes and made our way to the other houses in our neighbourhood, recruiting as many kids as we could.

We made it to the baseball diamond and had a small, but decent group of kids. We got Charlie Hogan, who was one of the fastest kids in town, Jamie Gallant, famously known for punching a teacher right in face, Marty Despain and his brother John, Frank Chambers, Ritchie's brother; and a couple others. It was so hot out that all the boys had taken off their shirts, throwing them into a pile or tying them around their heads. The game was going real well, and we were all having a lot of fun. I even hit a home run once or twice, and each time my hip skidded against the gravel and my foot hit that plate, I felt happier than I had ever been in my entire life. We played until just before dark, and I decided to be the last hitter of the night. I got in place and made sure I was standing properly, and that my bat was in proper placement, I was ready. Jamie Gallant had taken a turn at being pitcher, and he was a real strong throw, maybe even stronger than Billy. I stayed concentrated, one proper swing and I could hit this ball right out of the field.

Jamie began to raise the ball, and I was almost certain I was ready. I raised my bat getting ready to swing and then - SMACK. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that the ball hadn't hit my bat, it had hit me square in the face. The force of Jamie Gallant's throw had knocked me off my feet, sending me plummeting to the ground. No wonder he broke that teacher's nose, I was afraid that he'd broken mine too. I was in such shock that I didn't really notice all my friends crowding around me, asking if I was okay. Ritchie got down to my level, shaking my shoulders desperately.

"Judith?! Can you hear me?" Ritchie shook me again, but there was nothing. I just stared blankly at the sky, I felt as if there were stars and birds spinning above my head like some clumsy halo.

"Jeezum fuckin' crow!" I heard Charlie Hogan say, "I think you killed her Gallant!"

I finally made eye contact with Ritchie, and he asked if I was okay again. I was starting to regain my surroundings, I sat up carefully, noticing a strong metallic taste in my mouth. I acted on instinct and spat a large amount blood out all over my t-shirt and all the boys cried out, jumping back. Turned out that I hadn't broken my nose.

"HOLY MOLY! SHE JUST SPAT OUT HER GODDAMN TEETH!" Marty Despain cried, and I looked down at my lap. Sure enough, my two front teeth were sitting on my lap and blood was running from my mouth like a faucet. The shock of it all helped me not feel the pain, I wouldn't have cried anyway.

"Shut up will ya!?" Billy snapped, "You're gonna scare her!"

"Well that was sure as hell a good throw." I finally said, shooting the guilty looking Jamie Gallant a bloody grin. The boys all stared at me with shocked expressions on their face, they probably expected me to be a soppy crying mess, but I wouldn't come off as weak, because I wasn't. I was more than grateful that I had my baby teeth knocked out instead of my adult ones. The pain was starting to kick in now, and the sensation of my bloody and gushy gums made me feel a bit ill. I picked up my two teeth and shoved them into my pocket, all the boys stood as still as stone, watching my every move like I was some strange creature at the zoo.

"Are you okay?" Ritchie asked, helping me up. "You sure as hell took that like a champ."

"I'm fine. Gallant got the tooth fairy to come early, means I'll get some extra cash under my pillow." I smirked and we all laughed,

"I'm real sorry Judith. I wanted you to miss the ball…but not that way." The stocky looking Gallant boy apologized,

"It's all good." I nodded, spitting another gob of blood onto the ground.

"I should take you home." Ritchie put a hand on my shoulder, and I agreed. I couldn't imagine what my mother would think of my busted teeth, she'd now have a reason to ban me from baseball forever. There was so much blood coming out of my mouth, and it was admittedly starting to freak me out a bit. Ritchie and I said goodbye to our friends, Jamie apologized one more time, and Ritchie and I headed towards our bikes so we could ride home.

"Are you able to bike home?" Ritchie asked, "You took quite the blow."

"I should be okay." I smiled, "I'm kinda scared what Momma is gonna say about my teeth."

"I'll help you wash up before you get home." Ritchie said, getting on his bike.

"Really? You'll do that?" I beamed, spitting out more blood.

"Of course I will." Ritchie said, and I got on my bike as well.

The bike ride home was quiet, the sun had left as soon at it came. It seemed like minutes ago that I was sitting in that oak tree, waiting for the sun to actually come up, and now it was disappearing again. The pain in my mouth had grown worse with each passing minute, I knew that it wasn't just the teeth that were busted, my bottom lip was too. I could feel it on the edge of splitting open. We finally reached The Chambers property, Ritchie ordered me to sit on the front porch steps of his house, my usual spot. Mr. Chambers car still wasn't in the driveway, he was probably out drinking with his buddies around this time. I worried about what my mother was going to say about my injuries, I sure hoped Ritchie could do a good enough job of cleaning it up so Momma wouldn't faint.

Ritchie walked out with a white plastic case that had a red cross on it , a small flask, a makeup case, and a couple other things. He told me to come with him into the garage and I followed. When he opened the door to the garage, it was completely pitch black. The dusty and damp smelling darkness made my skin crawl, Ritchie searched for the light and finally flicked it on. The lights shuttered in protest before turning on properly, It wasn't as scary feeling in here anymore. In fact, it was quite cool. An old Ford Convertible sat abandoned and lonely in the corner, the paint was stripped down and it was missing a wheel. A series of different tools hung about the wall, I could think of every tool under the sun, and it was for sure up there.

I sat on the stool in the corner as I was directed to, and Ritchie got to work. He put on the radio and then examined my face, he identified that I indeed had a split lip, and that I had lost both front teeth. Sitting here and letting him examine me, reminded me of the many times we played doctor together. Except I insisted I was the doctor and he, the patient. Ritchie knew exactly what to do, he'd gotten and fixed enough busted lips and bruises to last him a lifetime. Ritchie handed me the small flask of vodka that he found under one of the couch cushions in his house, and told me just to swish it around in my mouth. I found out later on that he could've given me water too. I did it, and it was absolutely putrid tasting. It smelt and tasted like Jane's nail polish remover. I spat it out in a cup, seeing that the clear liquid had now changed into a light orange. Ritchie explained that the vodka was the only thing close to disinfectant in the house. He put some of it on a cloth as well and dabbed it gently on my lip, I winced and jumped back slightly. It stung, real bad.

"I know it hurts. I shoulda' warned you it was gonna sting." He frowned, "I'll try to be more gentle, jus' gotta clean up the rest of this blood."

I nodded and let him continue the rest of his work. After cleaning up the blood, he got me to hold a pack of frozen peas to my lip for fifteen minutes to make the swelling go down. After fifteen minutes, Ritchie patched up my lip with some tape. He then rummaged through his mother's makeup case, pulling out that golden compact I'd always seen getting used by his mother in Church. Ritchie gently patted on some powder below my lip, the area was already starting to turn black and blue. The last thing he did was give me a spare t-shirt, so I could change out of my old bloody one. After he finished, he took a step back to look at his masterpiece.

"You're still gonna have to explain to your folks about the teeth, but at least the lip doesn't look too bad." Ritchie said, handing me the golden compact which had a mirror in it so I could look. He was too fucking good, the lip looked like it was almost normal, just a little puffy and discoloured. It was definitely not easy to see unless you stared at it for a long while.

"You're the best Ritchie, honest." I grinned, hoping off the stool and giving him a huge hug. "It's swell."

"It's taken me years of practice, someone's gotta' clean up them busted lips and eyes." Ritchie said,

"Well I better head home, it's getting dark." I checked my lip once more before giving him the golden compact, thanking him profusely. Ritchie walked me out of the garage and I told him that I'd see him tomorrow, like I was always did. I walked across the street back to my house, and Ritchie waved goodbye, before going back inside the garage. I hoped my parents weren't too worried about me being out just a little after dark, I usually had to be in before sun set. I walked inside, and thankfully Mrs. Porter's shoes weren't beside any of the other shoes, meaning she had left. I slipped out of my keds and aligned them neatly beside the other shoes in the house. I walked into the living room, where Jane was sitting directly in front of the T.V.

"Hiya'." I said, taking a seat beside her, I set my bat, glove, and book bag on the floor. I was too lazy to carry it up to my room. Jane had her pyjamas on already and her hair braided so it would be nice for tomorrow, a plate sat next to her with nothing but a few crumbs left and an empty milk glass. She squinted, looking right at my lip.

"Where have you been?" Jane furrowed her brow, "And why is your lip bandaged up?"

"I was out playing ball." I said, taking my ball cap off my head and looking at it. "Gallant's throw socked me right in the face."

"Did it hurt?" Jane asked, crossing her legs and looking more closely at my lip. "Did you go to the doctor or somethin'? It looks fixed."

"Nah, Ritchie fixed me up fine." I shrugged,

"Judith?" I heard Momma say, and I turned to look at her. She had Davie on her hip, he cooed like a little dove, pulling on a lock of my Mother's blonde hair. "I left dinner in the oven for you."

I forgot about how I was going to eat with no front teeth, I guess it was best just to explain to Momma how I lost them. Get it over with. I thanked her for leaving dinner in the oven, and grabbed my things. Heading towards the kitchen. I took a seat at the table that was usually packed with our family of six, except I had the table to myself. Momma walked in and took the dinner out of the oven, setting it out in front of me. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, I could at least eat the potatoes without being in a lot of pain.

"How was your day?" Momma asked, taking a seat across from me. I awkwardly ran my fork through the mashed potatoes, the smell of the meatloaf made my stomach moan with hunger. I was nervous that eating would hurt my gums, but I guess I wouldn't know if I tried. "Why aren't you digging in? I thought meatloaf and potatoes was your favourite." Momma frowned,

"It is. I just got hit in the face today that's all." I mumbled, I could already tell by the expression on Momma's face that it wasn't gonna go well.

"What do you mean!?" Momma cried, jumping to her feet and running over to my side of the table. She took my face and pointed it towards the light so she could see, up close she could see through the makeup and tape. "Oh my goodness. Who hit you!?"

"No one. The baseball did." I said, "It's not too bad.."

"Wait a minute.. open your mouth." Momma frowned, shoot. She saw my toothlessness. I reluctantly opened my mouth and my mother gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth and taking a step away. "Oh my goodness…"

"It's not too bad really! They're just the baby ones I lost." I insisted, but Momma wasn't convinced that I was alright.

"We're gonna have to take you to the doctor. My goodness Judith you've busted your lip too! I told you not to play those silly ball games!"

"Momma it's fine! I promise. It doesn't hurt much, really!" I cried,

"May I ask where your teeth are?!" Momma asked, pulling up a chair across from me. I reached into my pocket and handed her the two bloody teeth, placing them in the palm of her hand. My mother took a deep breath, she was quite squeamish with these sort of things. I don't know how much I'd have to convince her that I was okay. Her constant nagging and worrying annoyed me, but I knew it came from a good place. "It looks like the tooth fairy might come tonight. Put those teeth in a safe place." My mother sighed, handing me back the teeth. "We're still going to the doctor to see about that busted lip, and NO MORE baseball."

I slumped in my seat. No more baseball!? Just great, and now I'd have to go to the doctor too. The injury wasn't even that bad, but I knew not to argue with Momma when it came to these sort of things. I carefully ate the rest of my dinner, and my gums didn't hurt too bad. Momma then gave me a painkiller and some water, and sent me off to bed. She came up to tuck me in and helped me put the two teeth carefully under my pillow, I was kind of sad to see my teeth go. I hoped the tooth fairy put them in good use and made my teeth into fairy dust to help people fly or something. Momma gave me a bit of a lecture on how I should be more careful, and not to horse around until my lip healed. Then she left me to sleep. As I lay in bed, I could hear Momma making a doctor's appointment on the phone downstairs, I groaned, throwing my pillow over top of my head. Just swell.


	3. Chapter 3

**Greetings! **

**It took a while to write this one c: I revised this many times, but there are probably some mistakes still hiding in the shadows somewhere, sorry about that.. try your best to pretend you never saw them! **

**Enjoy ~**

* * *

The handmade growth chart grew and grew as the years passed, my name and height climbed higher and higher on the corner of the wall we used to map my siblings and I's growth throughout the years. It wasn't long before I had my thirteenth birthday, and the hot Castle Rock Summer came around once again. Jane was now seventeen and had just graduated high school, she was pretty much the prettiest girl in town and was captain of the cheerleading squad. She often cheered on the sidelines for the quarterback of the high school football team, her dream boy since the age of five and now her boyfriend, Dennis Lachance. They've been together for almost two years now. Jimmy had his twentieth birthday last week and would be in his third year of college in the fall, he and Mary planned to be wed once he finished school. I missed him a lot. He and I were the closest out of all the siblings. Davie was a rambunctious little seven-year old, he was obsessed with _Wagon Train, _and always wore a cowboy hat that was red with white stitching. The only time we could take that hat off him is when he slept. Momma and Daddy were still the same, Daddy got moved up to head officer in town, and we were all real proud of him. Momma even put a big party on for him when it happened.

As for me, there wasn't much to report. Come Fall, I'd be in my last year of Junior High, and even though I hated it, I didn't want to move onto high school. My teeth had grown back in perfectly straight, I was real lucky, the dentist had told me that they'd grow in all wonky and I'd need braces. Even though Momma told me no more baseball, I still played. I took a real interest in poetry and writing, I had four notebooks full of drawings and little poems. I kept them in a hollow hiding place under one of the loose floorboards in my room, Jimmy had helped me build it before he left for College. I still (with caution) snuck out to see the sunrise, and I took my bike everywhere I went. Things were slowly starting to change though, I was starting to think more and more about boys and about how every girl in my grade had some sort of boobs but me. I hadn't remotely hit puberty, and my chest was still as flat as a board. I hadn't got my period yet either. I was convinced I was defective. I wasn't exactly sure what to do when the girls in my class talked about period cramps or kissing boys, I just kind of sat there and pretended to know what they were talking about.

Ritchie Chambers had become the most gorgeous boy in the world, which wasn't that big of a surprise. I got my first case of real butterflies for him around last year, and they haven't stopped fluttering about since. I was completely head over heels for him, and so were the other girls in town. As Ritchie grew, he practically had to fight the girls off him. He'd already been asked to accompany a large handful of girls to the weekly sock-hops that the local radio stations put on, but he just didn't seem interested in that sort of thing. When he would become more interested in girls when he got older, not many of them really wanted him anymore. Things were still rough at home, his brother Frank was now a lot older and had quite the mean streak, he was hanging with the wrong sort of crowd. He'd already gotten a couple of warnings from my dad for causing trouble around town, and was on the verge of doing something really stupid, like getting himself put in the can. Mr. Chambers was more of a drunken mess than he was before, he'd put Doris in the hospital once already and turned the abuse on his younger children, Christopher and his little sisters.

The swimming hole still sat in the woods, it froze over during the long and lonely winters, and warmed up around mid June. We had managed to keep the place a secret and not tell anybody about it. We hadn't even told our friends Billy Tessio or Charlie Hogan, and they hung out with us a lot. Ritchie and I were the only ones that seemed to go there, and we wanted to keep it that way.

It was a typical June afternoon. The sun was hot and the air was moist, the weather was almost on the verge of being unpleasant. Ritchie had told me that he had something amazing to show me, and that I had to see it. So I prepared myself for the unknown. I was irritated that Ritchie refused to tell me where we were going, but he insisted that it would be a surprise, and a fucking surprise it was.

Apparently Ritchie's mysterious surprise was about a half-hour journey out-of-town. So I told a little white lie to my folks, telling them I was going to the pool and maybe even the ice cream parlour. I was convincing enough and they let me go without a fuss. I met Ritchie on his front lawn at 12 pm sharp, perched patiently on my bicycle, waiting for him to come outside. The older Chambers boy sauntered down the porch stairs and peeled his bike off the front lawn. His white t-shirt that I insisted on him washing for the first time in three weeks, was almost as bright as the sun.

"You ready?" Ritchie asked,

"Nah, I think I'm gonna go have tea with your Mother." I said sarcastically, balancing on myself on my bike.

Ritchie rolled his eyes and hopped on his bike as well. It felt as if this was our everyday Summer afternoon routine. I get up and dress myself, walk across the street and wait for Ritchie on or by his front porch, he'd come out ready to go, we'd make small talk, grab our bikes, and go wherever the hell we decided to go for the day. I sifted my transistor radio out of my new leather over-the-shoulder bag that I'd received for my birthday, and put it in the basket of my bike. I cranked the radio loud enough so we could both hear it when biking. _"All I Have To Do Is Dream" _by The Everly Brothers played soothingly as we sped down the busy streets of Castle Rock. It was a warm Saturday afternoon so there was a lot of families out and about. It wasn't long before we drove past Castle Rock's aged welcoming sign, and any guess of where Ritchie was taking me had vanished.

We biked in the unforgiving heat for what seemed like eternity, our clothes soaked with sweat and the roads ahead of us rippled with warmth. When we had reached our destination, we pulled up in front of a rough-looking rusted fence, with the words "TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED. OPEN FROM 7:30 AM TO 6:00 PM DAILY." painted sloppily with brick-red paint on a slab of mite-infested wood. I jumped off my bike and ran to the fence to take a closer look, my hands gripped the loopy pieces of metal that held the fence together.

"Woah." I mumbled in fascination, it was basically a graveyard for junked cars. Some of the cars looked older than my Grandmother, and were slowly being taken over by rust and decay. The dusty lot with was filled with overturned carcasses of burned cars, some were missing wheels and windshields. A small shack like structure sat in midst of all the abandoned scraps of metal, it looked like it was slowly shifting to one side and sinking to the ground. I've heard about this place many times, it was Milo Pressman's junkyard.

"I've heard all sorts of stories about this place." I whispered,

"Like how Milo Pressman is a cannibal and he feeds the scrap meat of children to his dog?" Ritchie grinned morbidly, his eyes danced with danger and excitement.

"I've never heard about that one." I said curtly, "You think it's true?"

"Maybe." Ritchie shrugged, leaning against the chain-linked fence. "I heard a few years ago, that some kid snuck into the junkyard as a dare and Milo's dog bit his balls right off clean, they had to put his balls in ice and reattach them in hospital."

"Bullshit!" I cried, my eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Bull-true." Ritchie said proudly, "So do you wanna go in?"

"Are you cracked?! You just told me that Pressman is a cannibal and this kid got his dick ripped off by a dog and you want me to go in there!?" I snapped,

"Relax would'ya? The fat-ass is on lunch break." Ritchie rolled his eyes, "Oh come on! You're not chicken are you?"

"No." I spat, "I'm just being practical." I looked through the fence again, the old vehicles scattered about seemed really intriguing. No kid in town would risk coming to Milo Pressman's junkyard, if we went in and survived to tell the tale, we'd be heroes. "How do you know the guy's on break?" I raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the fearless Chambers boy.

"I heard from Charlie that he goes to the bar around this time, goes outta' town." Ritchie said,

"Well hearing is not the same as knowing Ritchie." I scoffed, "I rather not get my tits bitten off by some rabid dog."

"What tits?" Ritchie raised an eyebrow and my jaw dropped, punching him in the arm. Ritchie cried out and asked why I punched him as hard as I did, but I just ignored him, peering out at the rumoured danger zone ahead of us.

"Lets go." I finally decided, slipping the toe of my shoe in one of the grooves in the fence. Ritchie pumped his fist in the air in satisfaction that he managed to convince me, and started up the fence as well. We climbed the fence carefully, I wished I hadn't been wearing my sun dress, It wasn't exactly fence climbing material. We climbed to the top and swung our legs over the other side, jumping down the rest of the way. I studied the junkyard thoroughly as Ritchie ran around, wildly laughing. I stayed close to the fence for a long time, watching Ritchie climb on top of the rusted bodies of old vehicles.

"Come on Judith!" Ritchie cried, "You gotta see this car!"

I cursed under my breath and ran over to the old Chevy that Ritchie had taken a liking to, it looked like it was more rust than car. Ritchie was perched on the driver's seat that was ripped up so badly you could see the springs, I'd never seen him look so happy in his entire life. I got in the car and sat beside him, swinging the heavy car door shut, it creaked in protest as it closed.

"I have to admit that this is pretty cool." I grinned, the humid car smelled of gasoline and mildew, I noticed a charred and headless hula girl on the dashboard. I looked through the windsheild that was cracked in multiple places, the sunlight beamed right through it and produced little flecks of light that shone on the blue-eyed boy's face, making him look angelic.

"Told you." Ritchie remarked proudly, "Kids in town are such pussies, there's nothing wrong with this place."

"Where do you think the dog is?" I asked, almost forgetting about the rumoured man-eating dog.

"Who, Chopper?"

"Yeah."

"I dunno, maybe he got put down or somethin', you'd think the damn thing would've come for us by now." Ritchie shrugged, leaning his head back against the head rest of the seat.

Ritchie and I sat in silence for a while, admiring the stillness of our surroundings. Ritchie hummed a Elvis tune under his breath and I thumbed with my fingers. The silence between us seemed eternal, we made the odd comment about what happened on last night's episode of _Bonanza_ or complained about how the weather was too hot, Ritchie got up once or twice and filled his canteen with water from the water-pump, but that was pretty much it.

"Why do you think people fall in love? Why do people even get married?" I finally said, kicking my shoes off and resting my feet against the dashboard. I turned to my best friend, I watched as the water droplets from the water pump he'd splashed onto his face, dripped from his nose and eyelashes. He was so muscular and grown up now, he looked a lot older than thirteen. I had such a crush on him that it made me sick to my stomach sometimes.

"I dunno, I guess it just happens." Ritchie shrugged, "I'm not sure."

"I think you have to fall in love one day, I mean I don't think there's one person in the world who hasn't loved at least once" I said,

"Maybe." Was all Ritchie said, he squinted at the blazing sun that shone down on us. The silence was a lot less comfortable than it was before I brought any of this up. The remains of the leather interior on the seat stuck to my legs as I squirmed about.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" I asked him, "Your Momma' don't count."

Ritchie laughed, shaking his head. "Nah, have you?" I raised an eyebrow, letting him know that it was very obvious that no boy in town had ever put their lips on mine. I was Judith Allen for Christ sakes, boys looked right through me, well except for stupid Andrew Porter, but he didn't count.

"You know what? Maybe we should… You know kiss? Just to see what everyone's pissin' and moaning about." I mumbled, avoiding eye contact with the older Chambers boy. I could see from the corner of my eye that he was giving me the strangest look. There was an absolute silence once again, the stench of the rotting interior in the car seemed stronger, the air seemed stuffier.

"Alright." He finally said, doing his usual shoulder shrug. I released a small sigh of relief, I was certain that Chambers would've got up and ran, but he stayed right in his spot. I looked at Ritchie and he awkwardly leaned in, the both us had no clue what angle to come in at without butting heads. Finally I stopped trying to adjust the angle of my head and let him do the work, closing my eyes and pursing my lips. Closing my eyes made it seem like a longer wait, I was certain that Ritchie chickened out, but before I could come up with anymore ridiculous assumptions, I felt his lips on mine. Ritchie's lips were so tightly bound and tense that it felt like I was kissing a rock, but it didn't matter, it was still perfect. He quickly drew back, and the birds above us seemed to be singing louder than before.

"Well?" Ritchie pressed impatiently, and I finally opened my eyes. He sat across from me with an alarmed look on his face, the poor guy looked like he'd seen a ghost. I smiled dreamily, batting my eyelashes like one of those baby dolls that could open and shut their eyes, I nodded briskly.

"Perfect." I grinned, and both us embarrassed teenagers burst into awkward laughter, I couldn't believe I kissed Richard Chambers, the boy who spat gobs of saliva onto the sidewalk, who'd thrown a bag of dog shit at me before as a joke, who'd given me countless wet-willies, I'd kissed him on the lips.

After that we explored the rest of junkyard like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Even though both our hearts raced and thumped like Jackrabbits, we still played around like the kids we were. Ritchie and sat in our favourite cars and pretended to be in a massive car chase, I had to be the cop chasing him of course. Ritchie and I were having so much fun in our new-found playground, that we had lost complete track of time. It wasn't long before we were both sitting in that old Chevy again, sipping water from Ritchie's canteen, when we realized we weren't alone.

I heard it first. The loud roar of an engine. A large red pickup truck pulled up in front of the fence and a stout, greasy looking, middle-aged man hobbled out with a set of keys. My eyes widened in fear as I saw heard the low barking of a dog inside the vehicle, Milo Pressman was home. Ritchie and I ducked down in panic, hiding on the filthy floor of the car. There was no way we could try to run, Milo would see us escape, no doubt. The best thing to do was wait until Pressman went inside his sorry shack of a house, that way we could make a decent run for it.

I never felt so ill with fear in my entire life. Milo Pressman drove his massive tank of a truck into the junkyard I grabbed onto Ritchie's hand, our hands locked in a clammy grip. His truck was only parked a few feet away, and I heard him get out, drunkenly humming an old folk song under his breath. The colour had drained from Ritchie's face as we felt Milo's massive body knock into the side of the car we were hiding in, my heart stopped in my chest, I was certain he was going to find us. To my relief, the drunken goon carried on and stumbled off towards to his little wooden shack. Ritchie and I waited at least ten minutes until we were certain that Milo had retreated to his home, making sure the loud slam was really the sound of Milo's shack door closing.

"Alright, on the count of three…we get the fuck out of here. Don't look around you, don't look behind you. Just run, run as fast as you can and head straight for that fence." Ritchie hissed,

I almost forgot about having to climb that fence, it would be a challenge to climb up in a hurry and be quiet at the same time. I prayed that Pressman had brought his dog into the house with him, but my prayers were not answered. Little did I know, that in seconds time; I'd be in a terrifying situation, something I still think about when I close my eyes, etched deep into the memories of my childhood.

Ritchie slowly opened the car door with caution, cringing at every creak and moan it made when opening. He turned to me, soundlessly counting down to three. At three Ritchie Chambers jumped out of that car like a Jack-in-the-Box, and I fearfully followed. I'd never been so full of adrenaline, I ran so fast it felt like I was hovering, dust creating a thick haze around us as our feet kicked in the air. All of a sudden I heard a sound I'll never forget, the shrill howling of a dog.

I could hear the dog's paws thumping against the ground, I could hear the saliva dripping from its mouth and its horrifying snarls. Chopper was going to kill me, drag me into Milo Pressman's home like some hunting prize, and made into hamburger meat. I ran even faster than I had before, I looked ahead at Ritchie, whom was hard to see through all the tan coloured dust that was being kicked up by his feet. Ritchie turned to me, he looked so frightened and helpless. The look on his face scared me almost as much as the dog's hot breath against my ankles.

"Hey you! Get back here you SCUM!" A loud yell pierced the hazy Castle Rock air, Milo Pressman. The next few moments were a blur, all I could hear was Pressman's yelling before it was interrupted with a sharp gunshot. At some point I screamed, I was in so much shock that I didn't exactly remember when, but after I had survived the ordeal, my throat and lungs burned like a campfire.

It took me a minute to realize this madman was chasing us with a loaded gun.

"Did you here me!? Get back here! I'll shoot you I swear to god! GET. BACK. HERE!" I heard another gunshot and I kept running, the fence had come into view. Just another half-minute and we could maybe make it out of here alive. There was another gunshot, but this time it had gouged into the ground, just inches away from my left ankle. That's when I realized he wasn't just shooting warning shots into the air, _he was shooting at us_.

"Run!" Ritchie cried, "Goddammit run!"

We finally reached the fence and I don't think I'd ever climbed something so fast. The sounds of gunshots seemed constant, the heavy-set man shouted the worst obscenities at us as you could think of. I climbed to the top of the fence and practically threw myself over the other side, thinking I'd land on my feet, I landed right on my stomach. The pain hadn't even registered, I just got to my feet, grabbed my bike, and peddled as fast as I could. I peddled until the gunshots, barking, and shouting weren't clear anymore, I never once looked behind me. To this day I haven't seen Milo Pressman's face up close or what his dog looked like. A couple of years later, a small group of kids from town did.

Ritchie and I refused to speak, we just biked until we were as far away as we could be from that junkyard. I could feel something warm trickling down both my legs, but I refused to pay attention to that until I was safe. Ritchie and I finally stopped on the side of the road, a few minutes away from town. I threw myself off my bike and ran to the side of the road, my mouth began to fill up with vast amounts of saliva, I hunched over and gripped onto my bent knees with my hands. I was so stressed and afraid to the point that I had emptied out my stomach all over the wispy wheat-toned grass. I felt Ritchie hold my hair back at one point as I sputtered and gagged.

Ritchie and I sat on the side of the road as I recovered. Both of my knees were badly skinned, gushing heavy amounts of blood, dripping all the way to my ankles and soaking into my white socks. My heart pounded and my stomach ached. The scuffs of dirt covered the entire front of my white-eyelet sun dress from jumping off the fence, like always I refused to cry.

"I can't believe that happened." Ritchie whispered, "I can't fuckin' believe it."

"I can. I goddamn should've listened to my gut and refused to go over that fence." I snapped, "That psycho nearly shot my ankle off."

"I'm sorry Judith, I had no idea he'd be back so early. I didn't think he'd try to kill us, I swear." Ritchie said, his eyes filled with guilt. "It was stupid."

Ritchie shook profusely, his blue orbs like a vast ocean of fear. I'd rarely seen him this shook up or scared, his face was colourless and his breaths were short and wheezy. I acted on instinct and gave the terrified and guilty looking boy a hug. I held him until he stopped shaking and his breathing was somewhat steady. He awkwardly wound his arms around my waist as I held I rested my chin in the crook of his neck which was damp with sweat. He smelled a bit like the interior of that old Chevy. I closed my eyes and tried to take deep breaths, we were safe now.

We stayed on the side of the road for at least an hour, Ritchie gave me the shirt off his back (literally) and soaked it with water from his canteen so I could clean the blood off my knees, he was always taking care of me and bandaging up my wounds. He must have asked me almost ten times if I was okay and apologized at least twenty. After we recuperated from our nightmarish ordeal, the two of us continued home, but this time we didn't bike, we walked. Ritchie stared at me the entire way home.

We walked in the heat which had cooled down a bit since we left town, the buttermilk sky had smudges of pinks and blues in it, the sun was going to set soon. We walked in silence through Castle Rock, passing the storefront windows that showed their owners cleaning up and prepping for closing time. Blue Point Diner was filled with hungry families and teenagers for supper, a young couple walked down the street merrily, whispering to one another and kissing each other's ear lobes and noses. Ritchie and I reached our neighbourhood at about 5:30. The houses around us glowed with warm light flooding through the windows, the last of the husbands and fathers were returning from work, pulling up into their driveways and straightening the dark-brown hats on their heads, walking into their home with briefcases.

I stood between Ritchie and I's houses, we stood awkwardly in front of each other with our bikes. I clenched onto my handlebars until my knuckles turned white. I could hear Ritchie's younger sisters playing jump rope in the backyard, the slapping sound of their sandals against the cool pavement and the chanting of nursery rhymes was clear as a bell. I watched as Ritchie examined me, ever since we left that junkyard, he's been studying me like the Mona Lisa.

"You're gonna be alright?" Ritchie whispered,

"Uh-huh." I mumbled, "You?"

"Sure." Ritchie shrugged, "More worried about you than me."

"Why?"

Ritchie didn't answer me. He just stared at me again, and I squirmed with discomfort. Was he looking at me the way he was because I kissed him? _Shit_. After the whole Milo Pressman fiasco, I had completely forgotten about kissing him in the front seat of that old Chevy. I had my first kiss today, I had my first kiss with Richard Chambers. I also had my first gun pointed at me today too.

"So I'll uh.. see you tomorrow?" Ritchie said,

"Yeah." I nodded, "Oh, and you better swear on your Mother's good name that you won't tell nobody about that kiss." I narrowed my eyes at the Chambers boy and he grinned, I took a personal sigh of relief that Ritchie had smiled again since we fled that junkyard.

"Same goes for you, ass-wipe." Ritchie retorted,

"Shithead."

"Spit on it." Ritchie said, spitting into the palm of his hand. I rolled my eyes and asked why he didn't trust me, but he insisted and I reluctantly spat into my hand. We joined our moist palms together and shook, I pulled away and wiped my damp hand onto the side of my already filthy dress.

"Catch you on the flip side, daddy'o" I said, and we parted ways. I felt him once more, stare at me until I closed my front door behind me.


End file.
